Iran is the only country in the world that 'officially' executes children. According to the United Nations, a child is a person under the age of 18. Despite the fact that Iran has signed International Covenants that forbid them to execute anyone who has allegedly committed an offence before the age of 18, they continue to do so. Since 1990, Amnesty International has recorded 24 executions of child offenders and over the last couple of years the rate is increasing. Currently, there are at least 79 minors on death row in Iran. Time is of the essence. Together we will make them STOP the execution of minors!

Stop Child Executions sadly regrets to confirm that the Iranian female juvenile Delara Darabi was executed early morning today in the prison yard of the northern city of Rasht, Iran.

Delara Darabi was convicted of a alleged murder when she was 17 years old.

In violation of Iran's own laws, neither of Delara's attorney were informed of the execution. Delara was hanged only 11 days after Iran's judiciary had officially stated that Delara's execution was postponed for 2 months (http://scenews.blog.com/4837662/)

Delara was the most well known Iranian minor on the death row. She was also an artist and continued her art work in prison.

In his blog Iranian attorney, Mohammad Mostafaei who represents many Iranian juveniles on the death row wrote this morning: "She was not a murderer. I swear she was not" (http://mohegh.blogfa.com/post-68.aspx)

Amnesty International's Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui stated that ""Amnesty International is outraged at the execution of Delara Darabi, and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed about the execution, despite the legal requirement that he should receive 48 hours' notice...This appears to have been a cynical move on the part of the authorities to avoid domestic and international protests which might have saved Delara Darabi's life....This indicates that even decisions by the Head of the Judiciary carry no weight and are disregarded in the provinces" .

"Iranian leadership and judiciary must be held responsible for execution of Delara Darabi" said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam spokesperson of Iran Human Rights group. (http://www.iranhr.net/spip.php?article1058) "Lack of strong and sustainable reactions from the world community is one of the main reasons why Iranian authorities continue execution of minors. Iranian authorities have learned that their violations of the human rights lead just to some verbal protests from the world community, without any practical consequences...It is the time that UN and world community show that UN’s conventions are more than just formalities" said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam who asks UN and EU to condemn Delara’s execution and put sanctions on the Iranian authorities."

"As long as the international community and United Nations do not officially and seriously hold the government of the Islamic Republic and individuals within it fully responsible for such obvious crimes against children and humanity and as long as the gross human rights violations in Iran are being ignored by the leaders and governments of the world, the notion of accepting the regime of Iran in to the world's civil community remains to be an unreal expectation and at best a slap in the face of all Iranians and the humanity. The issue of respect for human rights must be at the forefront and a precondition for all discussions with Iran's government. As long the Islamic Republic so openly violates its own laws as well as the internationally accepted conventions in the area of human rights, they should not be trusted with any other treaties either" said David Etebari, co-founder of the Stop Child Executions.

Stop Child Executions strongly condemns the illegal execution of Delara Darabi and demands formation of an independent international tribunal to look in to the case of Delara Darabi and to bring all those responsible for the unjust sentencing and execution of Delara Darabi to international justice.

Along with Amnesty International, SCE "does not consider her trial to have been fair, as the courts later refused to consider new evidence which the lawyer said would have proved she could not have committed the murder."

The execution of Delara Darabi brings the number of executions in Iran this year to 140. Iran has executed at least forty two juvenile offenders since 1990, eight of them in 2008 and one on 21 January 2009, in total disregard of international law, which unequivocally bans the execution of those convicted of crimes committed when under the age of 18.